Both of my parents have given me lots of great wisdom on how to live, how to be a good wife, mom & human. And here’s some wisdom my dad gave me about being effective in the ministry for a long time. My dad told me that if a person wanted to last & do a great job in ministry work, they need to be mindful of three things:
*doctrine – flakey doctrine will side swipe you & cause you to become ineffective
*morals – remain happily married to your spouse or stay pure as a single person
*money – dont mishandle the money people give you for ministry.
The quickie version my dad would use was: be careful with the gold, glory & girls. Seems like timeless wisdom to me 
Posts Tagged 'wisdom'
Ministry advice from my dad
Published May 23, 2013 family , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , spiritual 1 CommentTags: learning, timeless, wisdom
a secret for making high quality decisions :)
Published May 3, 2013 Holy Spirit , living , prayer 4 CommentsTags: advice, decisions, improving, thinking, wisdom
When I was younger, I used to make decisions really fast and sometimes this worked out well for me. Quick decisions are helpful when you’re low on fuel for your car or when you’re dehydrated and need to drink more water. Quick decisions, however, are not as helpful when the stakes are higher – as I’ve recently learned.
Last month, I had a situation come up that was really important & I needed to make a very high quality decision on this issue. Thankfully, I didn’t just do a quickie snap decision but rather took a few days to think, pray & evaluate. After taking a little bit of time and getting some high quality input & advice from other people who were well qualified to give input on this type of situation, I made a really excellent decision and the outcome has been extremely wonderful.
I’ve come to the conclusion that when I need to make a high quality decision, it helps to give it some high quality time ,)
Some Important Secrets for Staying Happy
Published April 1, 2013 enemies to intimacy , family , Genuine love , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , seeing Jesus , spiritual , Uncategorized 1 CommentTags: choices, happiness, learning, wisdom
Happiness can sometimes be an elusive goal & on occasion we can miss some happiness that’s sitting right in front of our nose. With that being said, here are a few ideas that could help us to stay happy:
*dont say everything you think – an obvious morsel of wisdom
*look for good bc we usually find what that for which we look
*keeping a generous mindset prevents the selfish lack deception
*be positive bc complaining can be a severe energy drain
*chose love over apathy w a healthy dose of forgiveness
*keep a relentless focus in Jesus!
The importance of quality decisions
Published February 13, 2013 family , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , saving moses , spiritual Leave a CommentTags: attention, choices, decisions, time, wisdom
In the last few days, I’ve been thinking about the quality of various decisions that I make – not just with big decisions but also with what seems to be little decisions. It seems that when I get under some heavy pressure that I can tend to let the quality of my little decisions deteriorate under the guise of letting off steam (staying up later than normal, drinking coffee at 5pm, eating crummy food, playing on the computer rather than working out & more). I totally understand that we all need some outlets to just “be”. However, when I make mediocre quality decisions I shouldn’t expect outrageous quality results.
So I’m challenging myself to make higher quality decisions & to be better disciplined with my time & energies – quality decisions = quality outcomes
I’d like your thoughts & input
Published January 9, 2013 living , prayer , relationships , spiritual 13 CommentsTags: help!, insights, prayer, wisdom
Greetings & happy Wednesday to you!
One of the things I really love about blogging, fb, twitter, etc is how interactive we can be!! I love getting to see your input & thoughts – they’re often extremely insightful, encouraging, challenging & helpful! With this in mind, I’m working on a sermon about prayer that I’ll be giving in a week or so & I’m really keen to know of any books, websites, testimonies, resources, etc that have been helpful to you in relation to prayer. So, please, please, please, leave me a comment, some advice with resources, websites, etc – thanks in advance for helping me to be more successful from your input! :)
Wait a second!!
Published December 6, 2012 enemies to intimacy , family , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , spiritual , travel 1 CommentTags: God's presence, presence, still, strength, wait, wisdom
I was in a security line at the airport early this morning & it was moving rather slowly. Thankfully, most of us in the line were still pretty groggy so there wasn’t much complaining, except for the guy right behind me. He was really gripey & for me, gripey & groggy aren’t a good combination. Thankfully, God helped me to keep my mouth shut because when it was all said & done, we weren’t waiting for more than 10minutes – which points out a bit of a challenge for our modern living.
I think that if we aren’t careful, we can easily fall into the impatience trap & neglect to learn & practice waiting on God. There are LOADS of verses that speak to the importance of waiting on God & I would encourage you to explore what God says about waiting. But from my personal experience, waiting on God is a great way to be in God’s presence & God’s presence is my priority
So wait a second & grab some God time ,)
navigating landmines
Published December 5, 2012 Angola , enemies to intimacy , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , saving moses , spiritual , travel 3 CommentsTags: decisions, faith, focus, navigating, saving moses, trust, wisdom
The first time I visited Angola with Saving Moses, our host quickly explained that although the civil war in Angola was finished, there are still more than 10million active landmines scattered throughout the country. As we were driving, they explained that whenever we saw a tree with red painted on the branches or trunk, that the field or area behind that tree had not been cleared of landmines. If the tree had white painted on it, the field had been cleared. To add to the excitement, most of the terrain through which we drove had neither red nor white marked on the trees so I guess we were just supposed to figure it out!
Sometimes our lives feel like they have lots of landmines – places of conflict, explosive potential and unseen danger. And like my experience in Angola, it’s not always possible to know where these landmines might be in our lives. With that being said, here are some helpful point for navigating possible landmines in your life:
- keep your eyes on Jesus – let Jesus be your guide as you walk through life, directing your decisions, thoughts, interactions and more
- ask for wisdom from God – James tells us that God gives us wisdom when we ask with faith
- trust God – Ps 23 says that even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we won’t fear evil because God is with us
Stay calm
Published November 9, 2012 family , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , spiritual 3 CommentsTags: advice, peace, selective, wisdom
My dad had all kinds of insightful one-liners. He used to say, “Sarah, you have to pick your nervous breakdowns” meaning that I needed to be selective about what I would get upset about. I’ve found this to be super helpful. Just now, I ordered a whopper with extra pickles & the cashier thought I said no pickles – easy fix that doesn’t need a level 10 melt down. Another area is when I’m running late for an appt, I find myself getting stressed out. So I talk to myself & ask if getting upset is going to add value to the problem of being late – usually not. Lets get upset about things that are important
Like my dad says, “you gotta pick your nervous breakdowns” ,)
in over my head
Published October 3, 2012 enemies to intimacy , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , spiritual 3 CommentsTags: focus, inadequate, overwhelmed, trust, wisdom
I was texting with a friend recently & they were talking about some frustrations on their job & how they don’t feel adequate to the challenge – in over their head. Me too. Depending on when you ask me, I can often feel that I can’t do everything that I’ve been given, that I’m not wise or smart enough and / or that I’m ill-equipped. What’s great about all of these challenges is that they force me to look to & trust in Jesus – and at the end of the day, it’s a better place for us to be to have to trust in God rather than to rely on ourselves.
So if you’re in over your head, keep your eyes & confidence on Jesus because He’s more capable than your best efforts to bring you through very well
do I have to understand everything?
Published September 26, 2012 enemies to intimacy , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , spiritual 2 CommentsTags: faith, grow, trust, understanding, wisdom
When I bought my first car, I didn’t understand the importance of changing my oil consistently which of course led to some big problems. I also didn’t understand (before doing this “experiment”) that it’s not possible to “toast” whipped cream under a broiler. There are LOTS of other examples of things that I haven’t & still don’t understand.
But here’s something to consider, it’s not necessary to understand everything to do what is right. Here are some examples:
- I may not understand why a person is being stupid rude (maybe they had a rough day, or got some bad news, etc), but my lack of understanding doesn’t have to prevent me from being kind.
- I may not understand why something bad has happened to me, but my lack of understanding doesn’t have to sabotage my trust or faith in God.
- I may not understand why God has chosen a particular path for me, but my lack of understanding doesn’t give me the license or permission to be disrespectful of God’s choices for me
There are some things that we will never understand on this side of heaven & perhaps that is exactly the test that God has chosen for us – so let’s not base our behavior solely on our understanding
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